Arbourthorne shooting Sheffield: Countdown to verdict over attempted murder trial as jury sent out to deliberate
and live on Freeview channel 276
Joshua Mottershead, Niki Haycock and Demi Dunford are accused of conspiring to kill Ryan Ducker through two drive-by shootings in the Arbourthorne area on June 30, 2020.
Today (December 13), at Sheffield Crown Court, a jury was sent out to deliberate on whether the trio are guilty or not guilty of conspiracy to murder.
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Hide AdIn the course of the three week trial, the jury heard how the three defendants allegedly targeted two properties Mr Ducker was known to frequent and shot at them.
In one of the attacks at a home on Errington Avenue, an occupant was woken at 9.30pm by gunshots blasting through his living room window as his wife and son were upstairs.
In the other shooting at 9.53pm on Aylward Road, a mother had been with her daughter and her sister and her three-year-old daughter and ten-month old baby when shots were fired through the living room window.
The 10-month-old was reportedly showered with broken glass during the attack.
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Hide AdMs Dunford, aged 25, of Derby Street, Sheffield; Mr Mottershead, aged 22, of St Aiden’s Avenue, Sheffield; and Mr Haycock, aged 23, of Ironside Close, Sheffield, have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder and not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Ms Dunford and Mr Haycock have also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence, but Mr Mottershead has admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.
Mr Mottershead accepts he was the car passenger who discharged a gun but claims his motivation was only to cause fear, according to Mr Wood.
Mr Wood claimed Ms Dunford had been communicating by phone with Mottershead after the shootings and she met a man called Jason Brough before the Vauxhall Astra allegedly used in the shootings was set alight.
Jason Brough, aged 51, of Kent Road, Sheffield, has pleaded guilty to arson, and Ms Dunford has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation to her involvement with the torched car.